Lonely Planet Named This National Park Among 2026's Best Travel Sites— You'll Never Guess Which One
Regal wooden chairs, vintage glass lanterns, a hardwood floor dimmed by dust, a white cupboard holding a bookshelf of novels, a coffee grinder, a waffle maker, a biscuit maker, cutlery, pots and pans clanging on peg hooks, bags of coal and stoves, a mammoth travel trunk, a cozy bedroom with a bed to fit one person. These were some of the stories education ranger Joe discovered when he visited the Maltese Cross Cabin in Theodore Roosevelt National Park to explore its mysteries.
About 140 years ago, America’s 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt, bought this cabin as a cattle ranch to retreat from New York City after the death of his mother and wife. Today, the cabin quietly rumbles with a cachet of stories forgotten, but not lost, in time. This rustic cabin is one of the most decorated features of the park, tucked away in the phantasmagorical landscape of the South Unit. Recently, Lonely Planet included this cabin and the entire national park in the list of its “The 25 Best Destinations in 2026.”
The bucolic-style cabin nestles at the end point of a 36-mile scenic drive along the South Unit. On the way, it is peppered with spinney coppices of cottonwoods, silver sage, mountain junipers, clusters of wildflowers, and swaying little prairie grasses. Carpeted by these golden-green prairie grasses, bizarre buttes, the landscape is marked with tortured Badlands, rising from which are uncanny rock sculptures, streaked with a rainbow of red, yellow, brown, black, and silver minerals. When Sun bathes these rocks in the golden glow of sunrises or sunsets, the Badlands become punctuated by herds of roaming bison, galloping wild horses, and coteries of prairie dogs who wander around proudly flicking their black-tipped tails.
On Valentine’s Day in 1884, Roosevelt arrived at the cabin from his home city thousands of miles away to spend some time in solitude. “It was here that the romance of my life began,” he famously said, as Joe explained in the documentary. Once he passed away, the cabin was opened up as an exhibit for visitors to enjoy as they amble through the 70,000-acre park. Apart from the cabin, the park holds its legendary reputation for “vast prairies meeting open sky,” as Lonely Planet highlighted in the annual listicle.
In the documentary, ranger Joe described that these prairie farms cradle luxurious habitats for not just bison, but also a variety of birds, game animals, and insects. And although at the time when Roosevelt arrived here, the bison were disappearing due to over-hunting, today, the population has been restored.
The cabin is wonderful, and the prairies are, as always, rejuvenating. But that is not enough. On July 4, 2026, the park will expand its legacy by unbolting a new library, named after Roosevelt. Located just outside the park’s South Unit in Medora, the library will feature an earthen roof sloped into a hill that visitors will be able to visit after traveling through the winding Badlands and snaking byways.
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